If you know Louise, then tell Shane

SHANE MEAD: He's hoping to reconnect with a friend after moving to Auckland.

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Shane Mead has been spending time out on the Nelson streets in the hope an old friend will recognise him.

Mr Mead is looking for a friend and his former care-giver named Louise.

Louise cared for Mr Mead and his wife Allyson in Auckland. She took them to places such as the museum and botanical gardens.

Louise also had a knack of finding the best coffee shops - "you've got to maintain friendships like that," Mr Mead said.

"People only look at the disability, but Louise doesn't, she understands there is a proper person inside."

Mr Mead, who is blind and wheelchair-bound due to a condition similar to MS, shifted to Nelson from Auckland a few weeks ago.

He wants to get in contact again with Louise after he lost touch with her when she moved to Nelson. She has a son and used to work for Air New Zealand.

In an effort to find her he has been spending time out on the street in the hope that she might drive past and notice him. He has been as far as Richmond, as he thinks she lives toward Stoke.

"I don't even know what sort of car she's got."

He wears a black beanie with the words "Woodstock Westie" that they bought when they were together in the hope she might recognise him.

"She said give her a call when I get into town but I don't have her number. I'm hoping somebody, Louise, or someone reads the paper.

"It would be nice to see her again and go shopping with her. She was a great shopping help because she knew everything and everywhere I needed to go before I even told her," he said. "She's the kind of person who would help anyone. But she seemed to take a special interest in Allyson and me."

Mr Mead said he moved to Nelson as he wanted to get out of Auckland and was loving the friendliness of Nelson so far. He had previously only spent four days here in 1985.

"I will sit at the gate and have a smoke and just pedestrians, people I have never met, will say ‘Good morning. How are you'? You don't get that in Auckland."

Someone even brought him back the last 100 metres to the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board-run home where he lives in the Wood when he went exploring and got slightly lost.

"You don't get much of that up there. Auckland's got too big."

The 52-year-old would love to bring his wife, who suffers from MS, to Nelson too eventually.

Mr Mead used to work with racehorses and has a horseshoe that belonged to Bonecrusher. He said it was a personal gift from the connections of the champion gelding when he was grooming the horse.